Tire-chain holder.



J. R. BOWLES TIRE CHAIN HOLDER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 2, 1917.

1,5,2 Patented Jan. 15, 1918.

INVEN'J'OR cf Bowie 5 WITNESSES ATTORNEY JOSEPH a. BOWLES, or masseuse, VIRGINIA.

TIRE-CHAIN HOLDER,

To all whom/ it may concern:

Be It known that I, JosEPH R. BOWLES,

a citizen of the United States, residing at Lynchburg, in the county of Campbell and State of Virginia, have invented new and useful Improvements in Tire-Chain Hold- 'ers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to devices for holding the ordinary anti-skid chain on an automobile wheel; and the object of the same is to produce a holder which is so constructed and applied that in case the chain breaks or invcase the holder should "break, the driver is informed of the fact immediately and is therefore given an opportunity to make the I proper repairs at once, rather than sufi'er' mg the entire loss of the" chain and its attachment as is the case with most. of the -.deices now on the market. q

'A further obj t is to produce ash oldel" of this type which is applicable touanduseful ;in connection with nearly all combines the features of simplicity, reliability, adaptability; d h ease of I Pb ienarldremoval. I

Other objects will appear iii" the fgllowing specification. reference being had to the vaccompanying drawlngs where1n:' I

Figure 1 1s a side elevation of an autoniob'ile wheel equipped with a tire chain held in place by one of these improvedd'eices. Y

Fig. 2 is a' transverse sectional view; through the same. Fig. 3 is a perspective view of one of the holding links, and the collar at its inner end invention, the numeral 1 desi nates a spring ring, tour or substantially so before tension s thrown onto lt as described below. 'lh1s ringfI make of spring wire coded into a long heiiranchbent into the shape of a ring with its extremities connected with each other as at 2,.permaneutly or otherwise as desired,! and in diameter thering is about SIX inches moreor le'ss. Slidably, mounted on this Specification of Letters Patent.

p of, the popular tire chains now 1n" use. and which so called because it is annular in condesired point, the

spring ring are severalfcollars 3, herein shown as eight in number, although I do' Patented-Jan; mists... Application fi1edMay2,1917. Seria1No. 166 ,015.

not wish to be limited in this respect and eachcollar is preferably in'the shapeofa clip made from a piece of strip metal 'whosecenter is bentinto an annularelementor' Through the latter, when the ears are'dr'awn collar loosely surrounding the coil and together, passes an eye 6 at the inner end of a link 7 which by preference is a short stretch of rod. At the outer end thereof, I provide a hook 801' other fastening means adapted to. engage with one of the links of the tire chain C. \Vhile thisfdevice maybe made in sizes to fit automobile'wheels' of differentsi-zes, if the spring ring be of suf-f ficient flexibility and elasticity it isqui'te .vheels of'all the common makes and sizes. t

In use the chain C is applied to the't'ire T and ends fastened'to eachot'hecintlte ordinary manner, after which one of these holders isfbrought into position at one side of the wheel IV and its spring ringl' .caused to inclose the ,hub abotit as sh'ownin; Fig. '1", Thehooks at'the outer ends of alter nate links are then en aged with-points in I the chain where the l"tterstandsalongside the rim, and if.there are eight such hooks :in" theIseries and four of them were so used, the points would be correspondingly spaced around the wheel. The-remaining links are now properly adjusted so that the hooks'at theii outer ends may be engaged with-four corresponding points in the chain at the other sideofthe wheel-rim, and in order to accomplish this engagement said remaining possible. to use'the de 'ice on automobile links will have their collars slid aldng on the spring r ng until they are disposed interinediately between the collars of the first fourlinks, and then the bodies of the re maining links themselves will be passed between the spokes of the wheel inga manner which will be clear. It is of course possible to employ mpre or lessiof the links than shown in the drawings, but four pair are usually all that are necessary. After adjusting each collar on the spring ring to the link is grasped in the hand of the operatbr and its hooked outer end is drawn radially outward away from the hub I-I until it can be engaged with the chain, the elasticity or resiliency of the spring ring 1 permitting it to yield sumciently to allow such engagement. This is continued around one side of the wheel, after which the same operation is continued around the other side of the wheel excepting that each link must be passed between the spokes before its hook can be engaged with the chain in the manner suggested above. It is quite possible to make every other link slightly longer than those which intervene, and these longer links will be the ones which are passed etween" the spokes. The purpose is obvious. With such arrangement the spring ring would, by the length of the series of shorter links, be held around the hub and be. slightly remote from one side of the spokes so that the paint'would not become marred or scratched, and the ning out of it and leaving it on the road as heretofore, it is reliably held upon the wheel by this improved holder while its free or loosened ends fly outward under centrifugal force and strike beneath the fender at each revolution of the wheel. Thereby the driver is given audible notice of the breakage of the chain, sary repairs. If it should so happen that the holder itself becomes broken in any of its parts, there are enough remaining in connection with the chain to prevent the loss of and can stop and make the neces-' the holder, and the holder itself whereit is loose will fly outward and strike the fender and ive notice as above. It isextremely unlikely will become broken at the same time, and

therefore it is almost .safe to-say thatunder' no condition could this chain and holder be lost off the wheel without the driver havinghad warning. lVhen not in use the de-.

vice is removed with the tire chain and laidaway in the tool box.-

What is claimed as new is v 1. The herein described holder for tire chains and the like, the same comprising a ring of coiled spring wire. adapted to loosely surround the hub of an automobile wheel, a series of collars adjustably embracing said ring and each having a perforated ear, and a series of links, 'each having an eye at its inner end permanently but loosely engaging one of said ears and a hook at its outer 'end adapted to be attached to the chain, the links being alternately long and short and of such average length that the spring ring.

is put under tension when their hooks are engaged with the chain as described.

2. The chains and the like, the same comprising a spring ring adapted to surround the hub of herein described holder for tire that both the chain and. the holder 5 the wheel, a series of collars adjust-ably embracin said ring, and two series'of links, each 0 whic 1 links is connected at its inner end to one of the said collars and has a hook at its outer end, the links of one series being adapted to be connected to the chain at one side of the wheel and those of the other series being adapted to be passed between the spokes and attached to the chain other side of the wheel.

at the In testimony wherbofl affix my signature.

JOSEPH n. BOW-LES. v 

